Cog in the machine a sapphire nuzlocke
by SnivyShadow
Summary: In a world being rapidly taken over by factories and industry one boy ventures out into hoenn with only a faithful torchic at first. will he succeed or will he join the long line of trainers who've lost everything in the quest to be a pokemon master


**A Sapphire Nuzlocke.**

**A/N. Okay so before I begin. Here are the rules. If a Pokémon faints its dead and I can only catch the first Pokémon in an area. There are two exceptions. If I find a Pokémon that I already have I can I do not have to catch it and I get another try for something different. If I don't find a Pokémon that I don't already have after three tries I can't catch anymore Pokémon there. The other exception is an odd one. Say I have a linoone but no zigzagoon. If I find a zigzagoon I can only capture it if it is the opposite gender to my linoone. E.g. If I catch a male linoone on one route and I encounter a female zigzagoon I can catch it but not if it's a male zigzagoon. I also have to nickname all my Pokémon.**

Flames. Ilex forest was burning. A boy cried as he desperately tried to stop the men lighting the place on fire. A man ran out grabbing the boy and carrying the screaming child back. A man with silver hair looked on at the fire. "Only a few more days," he whispered twiddling his thumbs. He released a silver bird from the poke ball on his belt and flew off.

**1st person POV**

"Keith, we're here," my mother calls. Bright light fills the moving van and I step outside. Fresh air. I take a deep breath and settle my gaze on the small town. "Littleroot town huh," my mother says. "Sure looks nice," she admitted. "Yeah, fresh too," I smiled. "Well shall we go in?" my mother asks. I nod and we walk into the house. Several machoke are fixing up furniture and plugging in electronics. "You have your own room as well," my mother smiles. I walk up the stairs and turn into the room I assume is mine. There's a small bed and a desk with a computer. There's also a full length mirror which would allow me to see the effect of whatever clothes I wore. Very narcissistic but endearingly so. I have messy brown hair and pale skin. My red t-shirt fits me well and my baggy pants make me look slightly taller than I actually am. I walk downstairs and see my mother watching the TV. "One of your father's friends lives next door, why don't you go introduce yourself?" she suggests. I nod and leave the house. I walk the short distance to the next door neighbour's house. I knock on the door and a woman opens the door. "Oh you must be Norman's son. We have a daughter who's the same age as you, you should introduce yourself to her, she's been talking about nothing else for the last week or so," she laughs. I walk in through the house and climb the stairs. I walk into a room with a door that's slightly ajar and I hear a girl talking to herself. "Items check. Pokémon, check. Money... oh where did I put it?" she mutters. I knock on the door and walk in. "Oh are you Norman's son? I couldn't wait to see what you looked like. I've been so excited," she gushes. "I was really hoping you'd be a trainer and that we could be friends and... ah I'm getting ahead of myself again," she blushes. "It's fine," I smile. She relaxes but jolts up again "Oh shit," she mutters "I gotta help dad in his field work!" she yells. She bolts down the stairs and I walk down after her. Her mother stops me. "I hate to ask you a favour but my husband hasn't returned yet. Could you check for me?" she asks. "Sure," I smile. I walk north until I hear a man scream. "Oh god! My arm! Get it off!" I break into a sprint until I see a man being attacked by a poochyena. "My briefcase, there's a poke ball, use it!" he yells. I see three poke balls and grab one. I throw it and a bird like Pokémon appears. "Hey, what gives?" he asks but stops when he sees the man on the ground. "Hey, over here you dumb mutt!" he calls. The poochyena turns its attention to us and I gulp. "You know what to do?" I ask. "Yeah," he grins. He sprints forward and slashes the poochyena. The poochyena growls and that's when I see its eyes. I cringe and it runs at the bird Pokémon. "A torchic? I thought your kind were extinct," the poochyena growls in a guttural tone. "Evidently not," the bird smiles as he runs again. His tiny wings glow and he lunges at the poochyena and kills it. "Thank you," the man smiles and I shrug my shoulders. "We'll talk about this more at my lab," he says.

I'm waiting in the lab until the man arrives in. "Your name is Keith right?" he asks. "Yep," I mutter. "Well Keith you show your father's talent in battle. I think you could make a great trainer with that torchic," he admits. "Really?" I ask. "Yeah, speaking of, do you want to give him a nickname?" he asks. "Hm, how about Tirminion?" I ask the torchic. "Sounds cool," he smiles. "I think you should battle my daughter May. She could show you what being a trainer demands," he smiles. I turn around and see May sprint in. "Dad, I heard you were attacked and I was really worried!" she starts but Birch shushes her. "How about you show Keith a proper Pokémon battle?" he laughs. Her eyes brighten up and she tosses a poke ball. "Mudkip go!" she yells. "Tirminion, you ready?" I ask. "Yep," he grins. "Okay. Use focus energy," I tell him. He shudders for a moment and stops. "Mudkip, tackle him!" May yells. Tirminion holds the tackle and is pushed back. "Now scratch," I order. He slashes at the mudkip hitting him hard. The mudkip falls back and collapses. "Mudkip return," May smiles. "You did your best," she assures the small Pokémon. "Wow. That was fun," I grin. "Yeah," Tirminion jumps onto my shoulder and smirks. "That was a good show by both of you," Birch smiles. "He hands a small device and a belt of poke balls to me. "That's your pokedex and these are empty poke balls. You're able to catch Pokémon in the poke balls and their data is recorded in the pokedex," he explains. "Thanks," I smile. I walk out of the lab and I'm quickly hugged by my mother. "Well Keith it's time for you to go on your own journey now, be careful okay?" she cries. I ease her off me and smile at her. She smiles back and I notice something. I haven't smiled since the burning down of the Ilex forest. Those people had completely industrialised Johto. Everywhere was full of factories and smog. Tears fill my own eyes but I blink them back. I turn towards route 101 and take the first steps of my journey.

**A/N. And so begins the first chapter of my Sapphire nuzlocke. Yaay. Not much to say but that doesn't stop me from having an author's note. Yippee. I haven't really thought about a name for this so it's going to be called "cog in the machine" until I can think of something else. SnivyShadow Out!**


End file.
